I have often heard hikers joke about developing an addiction to hiking. Maybe it is adrenalin and endorphins, just as in bicycling, or maybe it is something else. For some, it may be the sense of achievement that is addicting.

I hike almost every day, mostly at Cowles Mountain in San Diego. I would not want to give it up. I do feel a dependency on it. I think it has altered my brain and nervous system. It is peaceful to me and restores me, and I enjoy the companionship of my wife on those hikes and, sometimes, of friends too. I do think it causes some harm, along with the good. I turn down other opportunities so that I can hike. It is possible to get hurt. I know many who have been injured. It causes enough harm, at least, to reflect on how it affects one's life and others in one's life.

What would life be like without some harm? Could we ever be most alive, or even mostly alive, without it?

DUG wrote:Perfect weather for this hike! Left at 0315, summited at 1245, back to the car at 2045. Stayed in t shirts all day, never having to break out extra layers, hats or gloves. We thought the trail was super easy to follow, though we did "rescue" one young lady who had strayed off a little bit. She yelled for help, one of our party went over and guided her back. She took off strong ahead of us and rejoined her party. No one we talked to all day planned on hiking all the way back down. With AT&T I had cell service on 90% of the Skyline section, which was fantastic for receiving updates on the football scores coming down. Initially we thought we could do it in 15-17 hours based on how we did on Mount Whitney and Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon, but we quickly realized this hike was a different beast. It is easily more difficult than either because of the trail conditions. The way up was okay, but that downhill was brutal. It took a lot of focus, though we had no problems following it down. (We 2 GPS tracks from previous hikers and recorded ours on the way up, but we never needed them). I can't imagine doing it in less than perfect weather, it was bad enough with gorgeous conditions.

DUG, how was the condition of the Traverse section of the trail? Any ice and/or snow? I'm considering to the C2C this Sunday.

No Zip, definitely not critiquing your grammar, which I'm sure is better than mine--just pushing back a bit on the notion that exercise is always completely healthy. For most, hiking Skyline is 'fully' healthy, but I have actually known several people for whom it seemed to be a way of dealing with an obsessive-compulsive disorder (two folks), a substitute for a drug or alcohol addiction (several people), or very low self-esteem as the result of some trauma (again, several people.) Of course, it's far better to 'have' to hike Skyline every week, than to self-medicate with alcohol or indulge anorexia, etc. But these were folks for whom it was/is pretty literally an addiction--if they don't do it, something worse happens. And I would argue that anyone with an addiction, whether it's to a substance or to hiking, is not fully free. So for those folks, Skyline is 'mostly' healthy, but the 'most' healthy situation would be freedom from all compulsions. However, we don't live in that ideal universe.

Of course, this is only a minority of hikers, and we've all known people for whom biking, tae kwan do, or something else was a compulsive activity. I'm not singling out Skyline. For most people, it is indeed a most healthy activity.

Q: How many therapists does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change ...

Some history: I often ran into Joe on the main trail to San Jacinto. The three stooges started hiking with him in 2013. He lives in Indio -- so I started calling him "Indio Joe," which quickly became "Injun Joe." This soon morphed into "Engine Joe." After hiking many Skyline's and Strawberry loops with Joe and Cameron, I can no longer keep up if they decide to pick up the pace